3 Failures (Week 1)

This blog will give a quick overview of 3 products which seemed promising, but ended up flopping. I will provide a brief summary of the products and also share personal opinions. I hope it will be interesting to read.

LaserDisc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc

    LaserDisc was one of the first optical discs (released in 1978 under the name DiscoVision). It had great potential to be a successful product, as LaserDiscs displayed higher image and sound quality compared to VHS tapes. (reference)

    In early 1980 LaserDisc was called LaserVision. There were a lot of problems with the discs and machines breaking and that damaged their reputation a bit. (reference)

    "In 1991, the format was released once again, now called LaserDisc. This time, finally, the format succeeded, and LD became the format of choice for film fans." (quote)

    Despite this, LaserDisc still died out. The reason being, that DVD came out, and it was simply superior in every way.

    Nowadays we are starting to see the decline of all optical storage media. Everything we need is online, you don't need a physical disc to watch a movie anymore.

Power Glove

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Glove

    "Launched by Mattel as an NES accessory in 1989, it offered users a new way of interacting with Nintendo games by way of various gestures." (quote)

    This product was just bad. It was barely functional, so there was no reason to use it over a regular controller other than "looking cool".

    However, it's still a piece of history. A predecessor of successful technologies, which use the same concept, like Nintendo’s Wiimote, the PS Move, and motion controllers for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. (reference)

Virtual Boy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy

    Nintendo's first step into VR technology. Similarly to the Power Glove, the concept behind Virtual Boy was great. The execution on the other hand, not so great.

    Due to many reasons, such as the games having primitive graphics and negative effects to health (causing nausea and headaches), the project flopped. (reference)

    This failure played an important part of the development of VR technology. Thanks to this, companies have been able to create more refined systems (Oculus, Vive), and these systems are no longer only used for games. They have real life use cases in education, product design, tourism and more. (reference)